Multitasking In The 21st Century: Article Analysis

The 21st century is a fast paced world with work to get done, chores to be completed, and people to take care of. The only way to get everything done seems to be by multitasking. Ironically, multitasking may not be the quickest way to get your errands completed. An article in the New York Times by Alina Tugend explains that multitasking slows us down and learning the art of “single-tasking” is beneficial for our productivity (Tugend, 2008). Although Tugend talks about doing tasks one at a time, Kelvin Lui and Alan Wong found in their research that multitasking isn’t always a bad thing. Those who are accustomed to multitasking preformed better with multi sensory integration and were not deficient in all kinds of cognitive tasks. On the other hand, those who were not accustomed to multitasking preformed worse (Lui, Wong, 2012). …show more content…
Listening to music and doing homework, watching TV while doing homework. Talking on the phone while driving. Sure, they can be problematic but multitasking goes beyond technology. Receptionists make appointments while listening to children cry in doctors offices, McDonald workers have to take orders while making change. With fast food workers, multitasking seems to be quite efficient. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that they are multitasking with quicker easier tasks. I imagine if I was talking on the phone while writing this paper, it would take much longer to complete as writing a paper is a task that takes concentration and